Steve, no paste, you don't touch the powder. You wet the cutting, give it a shake to 'rid' of excess water, and dip in the bottle, the powder will stick to the moisted cutting, you shake the excess powder inside it's bottle before removing the cutting from it, so you don't drop the powder everywhere.
I have a madeira in there also. I planted roots from my tree into it to speed up, I feel it is working. What really matters is the constant heat and prope moist, the lesser moist, the better actually, I am finding out the hard way. the moss is best, when it is almost dried, and you just give a little sprinkle when checking the cuttings... all the water seems to go to the bottom and sog up there, each time I check my cuttings, I move them to the othe side, moving the moss around also. No mold in the chamber, so far.